Size matters in EDW 66-44 win

The E.D. White Cardinals dominated the boards to overpower the Houma Christian Warriors 66-44 Friday night in non-district basketball action in Thibodaux.

E.D. White head coach Jonathon Keife said having a size advantage always helps.

“We were blessed with some size this year and we have been playing real well on the boards on both ends,” Keife said.

Houma Christian head coach Freddy Frye said he felt his team did not run their offense well.

“They (E.D. White) did some things that hurt us tonight,” Frye said. “We’re young at understanding the game and the good thing about playing a game like this is we will learn from it.”

The Cardinals started on a 9-1 run to open the game before the Warriors closed the gap to 9-4 following a free throw by Jarred Lafont. However, the Cardinals closed out the first quarter on a 9-2 run to take the commanding 18-6 lead.

The second quarter was no different as the Cardinals upped their lead to 21-6 before Lafont hit a lay-up to end the run.

The Warriors appeared to gain some momentum midway through the second, closing the gap to 21-10, but the Cardinals once again proved to be the dominant team and did not let the lead leave double digits.

The Cardinals closed outscored the Warriors 16-12 the rest of the way to cling to a 37-22 lead at halftime.

A strong third quarter saw the Cardinals outscore the Warriors 21-9 as they took a commanding 58-31 lead heading into the final quarter of play.

Despite scoring 13 points in the final quarter, the deficit was too much as the Cardinals hung on to the 66-44 win.

Lafont led all Warriors with 14 while Ben Martin led all Cardinals with 17.

Keife gave credit to the Warriors; a team he said is on the rise.

“Coach Frye is doing really good job over there and Jarred Lafont is just a special player,” Keife said. “He was a handful for us and we knew that coming into the game. We tried to get the ball out of his hands but he still got his points, and that’s the sign of a good player.”

With the win the Cardinals improved to 15-6 while the Warriors fell to 13-7 on the season.